Mhaswad CR station commences transmission

NEW DELHI: The ministry of Information and Broadcasting has announced that the Community Radio station at Mhaswad, Satara district in Maharashtra has commenced operations officially.

Regular transmission from the Mannvikas Samajik Sanstha Community Radio station has begun from 26 January 2009.

FM roundup - east & north east - Riding High

Looking back, 2008 was the year of commencing operations for many commercial FM stations in eastern India. To make their presence felt, these stations carried out a lot of marketing initiatives.

Many of these stations, located in small towns and marked by hefty retail advertising, have managed to escape the current heat wave of the global slowdown and have managed to sustain themselves with satisfactory profits, especially in the last quarter.

The toppers of the Bollywood music biz in 2008

From an astounding 75 'A' grader bollywood releases in 2008, barely a clutchful made the mark, music wise. Not surprisingly, films composed by Rahman, SEL and Pritam - those with catchy tunes made brisk business. The messiah of the masses, Himesh Reshammiya, hit a chord with Karzzz too, relying mostly on the popularity of the original tracks and some ingenuity on his own part. Those who experimented (Sneha Khanwalkar with Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye) were not blessed with quick album sales and
downloads, however.

Noel Keymer's favourite jocks

RJ turned voice trainer and author Noel Keymer picks three of his favourite radio jockeys from the year gone by.

Jeeturaaj: Radio Mirchi

If there's one reason that listeners tune into Radio Mirchi every morning at 7 am to 11 am, it's definitely because of Jeeturaaj.

FM Round Up: North - The race to stand out among clutter

North India witnessed a spurt in radio stations in 2008 - not only in the NCR, but throughout the northern states.

The radio market showed signs of maturity with many advertisers willing to pump in their money in radio as a medium.

Says Radio Chaska (Gwalior) executive director Tarun Goyal, The year 2008 was good in terms of programming and advertising but the setback of the year were royalty issues and government not agreeing to the independent news....

2008: The Year of the Radio Buyer - Sunil Kumar

For the radio industry in India, if the year 2008 belonged to anyone, it was to the buyer (of radio). Having got a considerable size of audience, the radio groups and individual stations did everything possible to persuade the buyer to buy airtime and other activities on their respective stations. Buyers, on their part, did everything within their reach and understanding to seek more and more about the medium.

'Needed: an alternative music scene' by Niladri Kumar

It's a big thing today if an artiste manages to get 5000 listeners

As a kid, I had heard from my father about the late 50's - 70's era when people thronged theatres in large numbers. There were no auditoriums then, concerts would be conducted in theatres because those were the only venues.

Brand integration: way to go! - Balasubramaniam

Brand integration is the imbedding or weaving of a client's brand with the radio station's brand into content that shares common brand values, personality, or message.

Changing perceptions, building awareness - Anuj Singh

The year began with a wave of optimism about radio's performance and expected growth. A FICCI - PWC report talked about a growth rate of 40 per cent and an expected industry size of Rs 672 crore by the end of the year. Radio CEOs expressed their optimism on opening up of content, relaxation in government policy, growth of radio's share in the ad pie, etc. There was talk of the need to �evangelize' the medium, change perceptions, work towards effective differentiation, etc.

FM round up: South - A year of opportunities

2008 turned out to be a year of opportunities for FM operators south of the Vindhyas, as many players launched their stations during the year. 2009, say most, will be a year of consolidation.

An interesting aspect of the Bangalore market that the initial RAM listenership survey had mapped as a high morning listenership and high out of home listenership TG, was the conversion to Kannada. With the exception of a Radio Indigo, which stuck to its premise of international music, several players preferred to target masses by going the Kannada way.